Something rare to find and extremely precious, as precious as the time that preserved and shaped it. We are talking about petrified wood, the protagonist of a long and fascinating story. Everything started in Indonesia among volcanic mountains and dense forest. It was about 20 million of years ago when the volcanic ash coming from a big eruption completely covered trees and forest. The volcanic ash had a double role in this story. On one hand it served as a protective layer against whether for the wood of the trees. On the other hand, dividing itself from the minerals that composed it, the volcanic ash let the minerals go deeper and deeper into the wood, finally transforming it into a stone. A completely natural process, that is how the petrified wood was born. We could talk about this particular stone as an art work, realized and shaped by an unconventional artist, the nature. Every piece is different, characterized by unique colors and shades that nobody can know or imagine before cutting the petrified wood. Looking at those shades, the time’s value that the stone religiously preserves becomes immediately visibile to everyone. Once the trunks are extracted, they are imported in Italy, when the work of another artist, the artisan this time, starts. The petrified woodworking is very difficult compared to the the one of a traditional marble. The material’s age together with the long petrification process and the hardness of the stone combined to the woodgrain make the wood really unpredictable. The artisan has to be really good at combining know how and gentleness to finish the work the nature has started million years ago. Petrified wood and nature are bound by something more than the stone’s origin and story. Let’s imagine a piece of furniture realized in petrified wood. It furnishes the living room of an apartment in a busy town centre. Outside is a cement jungle, but inside the apartment you are safe, you can feel the nature’s vibrations and that feeling of relaxation only the nature has the power to make you feel. The petrified wood is a way to be always connected to our planet, wherever you are in the world. In our Lapis collection we have combined this unique and particular stone with three different metals, chosen to highlight petrified wood’s colors and qualities. A golden metal with a unique made to measure shade, a micaceous iron and a particular kind of brass. This last one is an oversize brass, artificially acidified by an artisan who, as a painter does on a palette, creates dark and light spots on the metal. The grass is later painted to prevent the natural acidification and to preserve the artisan’s work. Every detail of this stone’s story, from the creation to the processing, plays a role in maintaining and enhancing the exclusiveness and the preciousness of the petrified wood. Through our creations we want to combine the nature’s uniqueness to design and craftsmanship, with the aim not only to furnish a space but also to connect people to the environment. We want to offer a value that goes beyond the quality and tangibility of raw materials and why not, to give you a form of escapism towards the nature’s calmness and timeless beauty.
Words by Carlotta Fossati
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